Plating apparatus

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a plating apparatus, including: a plating tank receiving a plating solution and having an article to be plated injected thereinto; an anode disposed to face one surface or both surfaces of the article to be plated; and a shielding member disposed between the article to be plated and the anode and configured of a first plate and a second plate adjacently disposed to the first plate, the first plate and the second plate moving in parallel with each other.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0076608, filed on Jul. 13, 2012, entitled “Plating Apparatus” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a plating apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electroplating may be used to protect a metallic ornament or surface and has been used in various fields such as electronic components, a printed circuit board, a circuit formation of a semiconductor device, and the like.

The electroplating may form a plating layer by dipping an article to be plated in a plating solution to make the article to be plated as a cathode and a metal to be electrodeposited as an anode and electrodepositing desired metal ions on a surface of an article to be plated according to application of current.

In this case, current is concentrated on an end of the article to be plated to concentratedly electrodeposite the metal ions on the end of the article to be plated, thereby causing plating deviation. Therefore, a uniform plating thickness cannot be obtained.

Meanwhile, the plating apparatus according to the prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,598.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a plating apparatus having a shielding member capable of fluidly coping with various plating deviations of articles to be plated.

In addition, the present invention has been made in an effort to provide a plating apparatus capable of effectively reducing process time and cost.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a plating apparatus, including: a plating tank receiving a plating solution and having an article to be plated injected thereinto; an anode disposed to face one surface or both surfaces of the article to be plated; and a shielding member disposed between the article to be plated and the anode and configured of a first plate and a second plate adjacently disposed to the first plate, the first plate and the second plate moving in parallel with each other.

The first plate and the second plate of the shielding member may be each provided with a shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.

The shielding pattern formed on the first plate and the shielding pattern formed on the second plate may be the same as each other.

The shielding pattern formed on the first plate and the shielding pattern formed on the second plate may be different from each other.

The first plate and the second plate of the shielding member may be each formed of a plurality of regions corresponding to each other; and each region forming the first plate and each region forming the second plate may be provided with shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.

Each shielding pattern formed in each region of the first plate may be the same or different as or from each shielding pattern formed in a region corresponding to the second plate.

The first plate and the second plate of the shielding member may vertically move with respect to a bottom surface of the plating tank.

The first plate and the second plate of the shielding member may slidably move.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a plating tank receiving a plating solution and having an article to be plated injected thereinto; an anode disposed to face one surface or both surfaces of the article to be plated; and a shielding member disposed between the article to be plated and the anode and configured of a plurality of plates adjacently disposed to each other, the plurality of plates each moving in parallel with respect to the adjacent plates.

The plurality of plates of the shielding member may be each provided with shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.

Each shielding pattern formed on the plurality of plates may be the same as each other.

Each shielding pattern formed on the plurality of plates may be different from each other.

Each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member may be formed of a plurality of regions corresponding to each other and each region of each plate may be provided with the shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.

Each shielding pattern formed for each region corresponding to each of the plurality of plates may be the same or different as or from each other.

Each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member may vertically moves with respect to a bottom surface of the plating tank.

Each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member may slidably move.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a plating apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a shielding member of a plating apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 3 to 5 are cross-sectional views a change in aperture ratios for each region according to a movement of a plate of a shielding member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a plating thickness distribution according to a plating process using a plating apparatus to which a shielding member according to the prior art is applied and a plating apparatus to which the shielding member according to the present invention is applied.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components, and redundant descriptions thereof are omitted. Further, in the following description, the terms “first,” “second,” “one side,” “the other side” and the like are used to differentiate a certain component from other components, but the configuration of such components should not be construed to be limited by the terms. Further, in the description of the present invention, when it is determined that the detailed description of the related art would obscure the gist of the present invention, the description thereof will be omitted.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a plating apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a shielding member of a plating apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are cross-sectional views a change in aperture ratios for each region according to a movement of a plate of a shielding member according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a plating apparatus 100 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a plating tank 110, anodes 120, and shielding members 130.

The plating tank 110 may be received in a plating solution necessary for plating and may have a size enough to inject an article 200 to be plated thereinto.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the article 200 to be plated may be a printed circuit board, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto. Therefore, the article 200 to be plated may be zinc-plated steel, silicon wafer, and the like.

The plating tank 110 may be provided with a plating solution supplying part (not shown) that supplies a plating solution, wherein the plating solution supplying unit (not shown) may include a discharge pipe (not shown) having a plurality of holes through which the plating solution is discharged and a supplying pipe (not shown) that is connected to both ends of the discharge pipe (not shown) to supply the plating solution.

In this configuration, the plating solution may be agitated by the discharge pipe (not shown) so as not to be congested.

Further, the plating solution overflows the plating tank 110 or may be drained through suction so as to be re-circulated.

Further, the plating tank 110 may further include an agitator (not shown) that sprays air to the plating solution to circulate the plating solution.

The anode 120 is disposed to face the article 200 to be plated to easily electrodeposite metal ions freed from the anodes 120 on the article 200 to be plated.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the anodes 120 may be a square pillar shape or a cylindrical shape, but are not limited thereto.

In addition, FIG. 1 shows that the anodes 120 are disposed to face both surfaces of the article 200 to be plated, but the present invention is not limited thereto. When being plated on only one surface of the article 200 to be plated, the anode may be also disposed to face only the corresponding surface.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the anodes 120 may include an anode basket (not shown) and plating metals that may be injected into the anode basket.

Here, the anode basket (not shown) may be formed of a porous net form through which the metal ions freed from the plating metals are easily drained, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

Further, the plating metals may be a ball shape, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

Here, the plating metals are metals to be electrodeposited on the article 200 to be plated and pure metals and alloy can be used.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the plating metals may be selected from a group consisting of copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), tin (Sn), silver (Ag), platinum (Pt), gold (Au), zinc (Zn), and an alloy thereof, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

When a rectifier is connected to the article 200 to be plated that is the anodes 120 and a cathode disposed as described above and is applied with current, the metal ions of the plating metals are freed into the plating solution while the plating metals of the anodes 120 are electrolyzed and electrons move to the cathode through the rectifier.

The metal ions freed in the plating solution move to the cathode, thereby performing the plating on the surface of the article 200 to be plated while being combined with the electrons.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the shielding members 130 may be disposed between the article 200 to be plated and the anodes 120.

In this case, the shielding members 130 may be adjacently disposed to the article 200 to be plated or the anodes 120, among the anodes 120 and the article 200 to be plated.

As shown in FIG. 1, the shielding members 130 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be configured of first plates 131 and second plates 133 adjacent to the first plates 131.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention describes that the shielding members 130 are configured of two plates, that is, the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 as described above, which is only an example. Therefore, the shielding members may also be configured of more than three plates that are adjacent to one another. The present invention may be applied even in this case.

In addition, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the shielding members 130 may be configured of the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 having the same area, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

Herein, the ‘same’ does not mean the exactly same dimension in a mathematical meaning and may mean substantially the same in consideration of a design error, a manufacturing error, a measuring error, and the like. Hereinafter, the ‘same’ used in the present specification many means substantially the same as described above.

The first plates 131 and the second plates 133 of the shielding members 130 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may move in parallel with each other.

In this case, the second plates 133 may be movably configured while the first plate 131 is in the fixed state. On the other hand, the first plates 131 may also be configured movably while the second plates 133 are in the fixed state.

Alternatively, both of the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 may also be configured movably.

In addition, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 of the shielding members 130 may vertically move to a bottom surface of the plating tank 110, but the present invention are not particularly limited thereto.

In addition, the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 may slidably move, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

The plating apparatus 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may further include a moving member (not shown) that may move the first plates 131 and the second plates 133 of the shielding members 130. As the moving member (not shown), the known various technologies may be used and therefore, the detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 of the shielding member 130 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention may be formed with shielding patterns including a plurality of through parts 131 a and 133 a and a plurality of blocking parts 131 b and 133 b.

In this case, the through parts may be formed in a hole or slit shape, but the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

In addition, the shielding patterns formed on the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed on the second plate 133 may be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other.

Herein, the ‘same shape’ and ‘different shape’ may mean that the positions of the through parts 131 a and the blocking parts 131 b of the first plate 131 are each coincide with and deviate from the positions of the through parts 133 a and the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133 when the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 having the same area each contacts each other so as to be positioned on the same line.

Describing in more detail, forming the shielding patterns formed on the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed on the second plate 133 in the same shape as each other may mean that the positions of the plurality of through parts 131 a formed on the first plate 131 coincide with the positions of the plurality of through parts 133 a formed on the second plate 133 and the positions of the plurality of blocking parts 131 b formed on the first plate 131 coincide with the positions of the plurality of blocking parts 133 b formed on the second plate 133.

That is, like portion a of FIG. 2, the positions of each of the through parts 131 a of the first plate 131 coincide with the positions of each of the through parts 133 a of the second plate 133 and the positions of each of the blocking part 131 b of the first plate 131 coincide with the positions of each of the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133.

In addition, forming the shielding patterns formed on the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed on the second plate 133 in different shapes may mean that as shown in portion b of FIG. 2, the positions of each of the through parts 131 a of the first plate 131 deviate from the positions of each of the through parts 133 a of the second plate 133 and the positions of each of the blocking parts 131 b of the first plate 131 deviate from the positions of each of the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133.

In this case, as shown in portion b of FIG. 2, the positions may completely deviate from each other so that the through parts 131 a of the first plate 131 contact the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133 and the blocking parts 131 b of the first plate 131 contacts the through holes 133 a of the second plate 133 and the positions may also partially deviate from each other so that the through parts 131 a of the first plate 131 contact both of the through parts 133 a and the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133.

The case in which the shielding patterns of each of the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 are the same or different over the entire area is described in advance.

Hereinafter, the case in which the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 are each formed of a plurality of regions that correspond to each other and the shielding patterns including the plurality of through parts 131 a and 133 a and the plurality of blocking parts 131 b and 133 b are formed of each region forming the first plate 131 and each region forming the second plate 133 will be described.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention describes that the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 are each formed of three regions A, B, and C as shown in FIG. 2, which is only an example, and therefore, may also be formed of two regions or at least four regions.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 may each be formed of three regions, for example, regions A, B, and C as shown in FIG. 2 and the region A of the first plate 131 and the region A of the second plate 133, the B region of the first plate 131 and the region B of the second plates 133, and the region C of the first plate 131 and the region C of the second plate 133 may each have positions and areas that correspond to each other.

That is, the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 may each be formed of a plurality of regions having the same area. In this case, the positions and areas for each region may correspond to each other. This is only an example and therefore, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto.

In addition, the regions A, B, and C forming the first plate 131 and the regions A, B, and C forming the second plate 133 may each be formed with the shielding patterns including the plurality of through parts 131 a and 133 a and the plurality of blocking parts 131 b and 133 b.

In this case, the shielding patterns each formed in the regions A, B, and C of the first plate 131 may also be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other.

Similarly, the shielding patterns each formed in the regions A, B, and C of the second plate 133 may also be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other.

In addition, the shielding patterns formed in the region A of the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed in the region A of the second plate 133 may be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other, the shielding patterns formed in the region B of the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed in the region B of the second plate 133 may also be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other, and the shielding patterns formed in the region C of the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns formed in the region C of the second plate 133 may also be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other.

That is, the shielding patterns formed in each region A, B, and C of the first plate 131 and each region A, B, and C of the second plate 133 corresponding thereto may be formed in the same shape or different shapes as or from each other.

In this case, the meaning of the ‘same shape’ and ‘different shapes’ is described above in detail and therefore, the description thereof will be omitted herein.

FIG. 2 shows that the shielding patterns of the region A of the first plate 131 and the region A of the second plate 133 are formed in the same shape as each other, the shielding patterns of the region B of the first plate 131 and the shielding patterns of the region B of the second plate 133 are formed in different shapes from each other, and the shielding patterns of the region C of the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 are formed in the same shape as each other.

This is only an example and therefore, the present invention is not particularly limited thereto and may be implemented in various shapes.

By the configuration as shown in FIG. 2, in the state in which no first plate 131 or second plate 133 moves, that is, in the state in which the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 contact each other at the position on the same line, current flowing in the article 200 to be plated from the anode 120 may pass through the region A and the region C of the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 and may be blocked in the region B, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 2.

In this case, a region through which current may pass is shown by a and a region at which current may be blocked is shown by b. This is identically applied to FIGS. 2 to 5.

The shielding member 130 having the structure shown in FIG. 2 has a top and a bottom through which current may pass and a central portion at which current may be blocked. The shielding member 130 having the structure may be applied when a plating thickness of a central portion of the article 200 to be plated is larger than that of a top and a bottom thereof.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, when the second plate 133 slidably moves in an arrow direction while the first plate 131 of the shielding member 130 according to the above configuration is in a fixed state, the regions A, B, and C of the first plate 131 each deviate from the regions A, B, and C of the second plate 133, such that unlike the shielding member 130 shown in FIG. 2, the shielding member 130 has a structure in which the central portion thereof may pass through current and the top and the bottom thereof may partially block current.

Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4, when the second plate 133 slidably moves in an arrow direction while the first plate 131 of the shielding member 130 according to the above configuration is a fixed state, the regions A, B, and C of the first plate 131 each deviate from the regions A, B, and C of the second plate 133, such that unlike the shielding member 130 shown in FIG. 2, the shielding member 130 has a structure in which the central portion thereof may pass through current and the top and the bottom thereof may partially block current.

As described above, the shielding member 130 having the structure shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 may be applied when the plating thickness of the top and the bottom of the article 200 to be plated is larger than that of the central portion thereof.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 5, the second plate 133 slidably moves in an arrow direction while the first plate 131 of the shielding member 130 according to the above configuration is a fixed state, but unlike FIG. 3, the movement of the second plate 133 can be controlled so that the through parts 131 a and the blocking parts 131 b of the first plate 131 and the through parts 133 a and the blocking parts 133 b of the second plate 133 are disposed so as to partially overlap with each other.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, current may partially pass through (portion c) in the entire region other than both ends of the shielding member 130. That is, a current amount passing through the shielding member 130 is controlled.

In this case, FIGS. 3 to 5 shows that only the second plate 133 moves while the first plate 131 of the shielding member 130 is in a fixed state, which is only an example. Therefore, the first plate 131 can move while the second plate 133 is in a fixed state and both of the first plate 131 and the second plate 133 can also move.

As such, the shielding member is configured of the first plate and the second plate each formed with the shielding patterns including the plurality of through parts and the plurality of blocking parts and the first plate and the second plate slidably move so that the through parts and the blocking parts formed on the first plate each coincide or cross with the through parts and the blocking parts formed on the second plate or partially overlap therewith, thereby controlling the positions of the portion through which current passes and the portion at which current is blocked and controlling the size of the current passing portion to control the passing current amount.

Generally, various plating deviations may appear according to the plating apparatus and a kind of the articles to be plated. According to the prior art, shielding plates corresponding to each plating deviation are each designed, manufactured, and used, which may increase the process time and cost. However, the single shielding member can be fluidly used for various plating deviations by applying the shielding member according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, thereby reducing the process time and cost.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a plating thickness distribution when no shielding plate is, when the shielding plate according to the prior art is used, and when the shielding member according to the present invention is used.

As shown in FIG. 6, it can be confirmed that when no shielding plate is and when the shielding plate according to the prior art is used, the deviation between the plating thickness formed at the central portion of the substrate and the plating thickness formed at the top and the bottom thereof is large and when the shielding member according to the present invention is used, the deviation between the plating thickness formed at the central portion of the substrate and the plating thickness formed at the top and the bottom thereof is smaller than the foregoing case.

According to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the shielding members can be each provided with the shielding patterns including the through parts and the blocking parts and can be configured of the two slidably plate, thereby controlling the aperture ratio for each position of the shielding members and easily controlling the flowing or blocking of current for each position.

In addition, as described above, according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, the shielding members can control the aperture ratio for each position by slidably moving the two plates, thereby coping with various plating deviations with the single shielding member.

Further, as described above, the preferred embodiments of the present invention can cope with various plating deviations with the single shielding member, thereby reducing the process time and cost, as compared with the prior art designing and manufacturing the shielding members having different patterns every time according to the plating deviations.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited thereto, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Accordingly, any and all modifications, variations or equivalent arrangements should be considered to be within the scope of the invention, and the detailed scope of the invention will be disclosed by the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A plating apparatus, comprising: a plating tank receiving a plating solution and having an article to be plated injected thereinto; an anode disposed to face one surface or both surfaces of the article to be plated; and a shielding member disposed between the article to be plated and the anode and configured of a first plate and a second plate adjacently disposed to the first plate, the first plate and the second plate moving in parallel with each other.
 2. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the shielding member are each provided with a shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.
 3. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the shielding pattern formed on the first plate and the shielding pattern formed on the second plate are the same as each other.
 4. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein the shielding pattern formed on the first plate and the shielding pattern formed on the second plate are different from each other.
 5. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the shielding member are each formed of a plurality of regions corresponding to each other; and each region forming the first plate and each region forming the second plate are provided with shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.
 6. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein each shielding pattern formed in each region of the first plate is the same or different as or from each shielding pattern formed in a region corresponding to the second plate.
 7. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the shielding member vertically move with respect to a bottom surface of the plating tank.
 8. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the first plate and the second plate of the shielding member slidably move.
 9. A plating apparatus, comprising: a plating tank receiving a plating solution and having an article to be plated injected thereinto; an anode disposed to face one surface or both surfaces of the article to be plated; and a shielding member disposed between the article to be plated and the anode and configured of a plurality of plates adjacently disposed to each other, the plurality of plates each moving in parallel with respect to the adjacent plates.
 10. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein the plurality of plates of the shielding member are each provided with shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.
 11. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein each shielding pattern formed on the plurality of plates is the same as each other.
 12. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 10, wherein each shielding pattern formed on the plurality of plates is different from each other.
 13. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member is formed of a plurality of regions corresponding to each other and each region of each plate is provided with the shielding pattern including a plurality of through parts and a plurality of blocking parts.
 14. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 13, wherein each shielding pattern formed for each region corresponding to each of the plurality of plates is the same or different as or from each other.
 15. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member vertically moves with respect to a bottom surface of the plating tank.
 16. The plating apparatus as set forth in claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of plates of the shielding member slidably moves. 